Penn Science Policy and Diplomacy Group

by Neha Pancholi Note: Here at the PSPG blog, we like to feature writing from anyone in the Penn community interested in the science policy process or science for general interest. This is the 1st in a series of posts from new authors. Interested is writing for the blog? Contact us! The daily meat consumption in the United States exceeds that of almost every other country 1 . While the majority of meat consumed in the United States is red meat 2 , the consumption of certain red meats has decreased over the past few decades due to associated health concerns, such as heart disease and diabetes 1,2 . In October, the World Health Organization (WHO) highlighted another potential health concern for red meat: cancer. The announcement concerned both red and processed meat. Red meat is defined as unprocessed muscle meat from mammals, such as beef and pork 3 . Processed meat– generally red meat –has been altered to improve flavor through processes such as curing or smoking 3 . Examples...

by Jamie DeNizio and Hannah Shoenhard In early November, public health experts from a variety of organizations gathered on Penn’s campus to discuss Philadelphia’s communication strategies and preparation efforts in the event of an epidemic outbreak. In light of recent crises, such as H1N1 and Ebola in the US, AAAS Emerging Leaders in Science and Society (ELISS) fellows and the Penn Science Policy Group (PSPG) hosted local experts at both a public panel discussion and a focus group meeting to understand the systems currently in place and develop ideas about what more can be done. Are we prepared?: Communication with the public Dr. Max King, moderator of the public forum, set the tone for both events with a Benjamin Franklin quote: “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” Measures taken before a crisis begins can make or break the success of a public health response. In particular, in the age of the sensationalized, 24-hour news cycle, the only way for publ...

by Chris Yarosh It is very easy to become wrapped up in day-to-day scientific life. There is always another experiment to do, or a paper to read, or a grant to submit. This result leads to that hypothesis, and that hypothesis needs to be tested, revised, re-tested, etc. Scientists literally study the inner workings of life, matter and the universe itself, yet science often seems set apart from other worldly concerns. But it’s not. The terrorist attacks in Paris and Beirut and the ongoing Syrian refugee crisis have drawn the world’s attention, and rightfully so. These are genuine catastrophes, and it is difficult to imagine the suffering of those who must face the aftermath of these bouts of shocking violence. At the same time, 80 world leaders are preparing to gather in freshly scarred Paris for another round of global climate talks . In a perfect world, these talks would focus only on the sound science and overwhelming consensus supporting action on climate change, and...

To watch this event in real time, please follow this link (from 530 - 7pm, 11/4) How prepared are Philadelphia’s institutions to communicate with the public in the event of a future epidemic? What specific challenges were successfully or unsuccessfully addressed during the Ebola crisis that could provide learning points going forward? Are there successful models or case studies for handling communication during epidemics that are worth emulating? These questions will be up for debate on Wednesday at the University of Pennsylvania in a forum open to the public. The event will be held in the Penn bookstore (3601 Walnut St.) upstairs meeting room from 5:30 to 7 p.m. on Wednesday, November 4. To learn more about this event, please read our preview article .

by Chris Yarosh This past March , the National Cancer Institute (NCI) announced a new funding mechanism designed to stabilize the biomedical research enterprise by creating new career paths for PhD-level scientists. That mechanism, called the NCI Research Specialist Award (R50), is now live. Applications (of which there will likely be many) for the R50 will be accepted beginning in January, with the first crop of directly-funded Research Specialists starting in October 2016. More details about the grant can be found in the newly released FOA . Why is this a big deal? In recent years, there have been increased calls for reform of the biomedical enterprise. More people than ever hold PhDs, and professor positions (the traditional career goal of doctorate holders) are scarce . This leaves many young researchers trapped somewhere in the middle in postdoctoral positions , something we've talked about    before   on this blog . These positions are still considere...

** Link for live streaming of this event can be found here ** by Hannah Shoenhard, Jamie DeNizio, and Michael Allegrezza Craig Spencer, a New York City doctor, tested positive for Ebola on October 23. The story broke online the same day, and by the next morning, tabloids were plastered with images of masked and gowned health workers with headlines such as  Bungle Fever and Ebola! Late-night comedy, Twitter, local news: the story was inescapable, the hysteria palpable. All in all, only eleven Ebola patients were treated on U.S. soil. But the media’s reaction affected the lives of anyone who watched television or had an internet connection. The Ebola epidemic in Africa has died down. Liberia is Ebola-free, while Sierra Leone and Guinea continue to report cases in the low single digits per week. Most promisingly, a new vaccine has been shown to be highly effective in a clinical trial. Given the vaccine, it seems that the likelihood of future epidemics on the scale of the o...

by Chris Yarosh When we think about the role of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in biomedical research, we often think only in terms of dollars and cents. The NIH is a funding agency, after all, and most researchers submit grants with this relationship in mind. However, because the NIH holds the power of the purse, it also plays a large role in dictating the scope of biomedical research conducted in the U.S. It is noteworthy, then, that the NIH recently delayed  some high profile grant applications related to one type of research: chimeras. Chimeras , named for a Greek mythological monster composed of several different animals, are organisms that feature cells that are genetically distinct.  In the lab, this commonly refers to animals that contain cells from more than once species. Research into chimeras is not new; scientists have been successfully using animal/animal (e.g. sheep/goat) chimeras for over 30 years to learn about how animals develop. Human/anima...

Hey everyone, Please join us for our kickoff meeting this Thursday, September 17th in BRB 1412 at 6PM. We will be previewing the year ahead, and VP Chris Yarosh will talk about advocacy and his experience with ASBMB Hill Day. Refreshments included!

Chris Yarosh This Science Spotlight focuses on the research I do here at Penn, the results of which are now in press at  Nucleic Acids Research 1 . You can read the actual manuscript  right now , if you would like, because NAR is “open access,” meaning all articles published there are available to anyone for free. We’ve talked about open access on this blog before, if you’re curious about how that works.  First, a note about this type of science. The experiments done for this paper fall into the category of “basic research,” which means they were not designed to achieve an immediate practical end. That type of work is known as “applied” research. Basic research, on the other hand, is curiosity-driven science that aims to increase our understanding of something. That something could be cells, supernovas, factors influencing subjective well-being in adolescence, or anything else, really. This isn’t to say that basic research  doesn’t lead to advances that imp...

By Ian McLaughlin Earlier this month, postdocs and graduate students from several fields met to candidly discuss the challenges postdocs are encountering while pursuing careers in academic research.  The meeting began with an enumeration of these challenges, discussing the different elements contributing to the mounting obstacles preventing postdocs from attaining faculty positions – such as the scarcity of faculty positions and ballooning number of rising postdocs, funding mechanisms and cuts, the sub-optimal relationship between publications and the quality of science, and the inaccurate conception of what exactly a postdoctoral position should entail. From [15] At a fundamental level, there’s a surplus of rising doctoral students whose progression outpaces the availability of faculty positions at institutions capable of hosting the research they intended to perform [10,15] .  While 65% of PhDs attain postdocs, only 15-20% of postdocs ...